Our chain of songs, currently on fools and foolishness, joins both together. Songwriter Don Covay, who spanned the blues and rhythm to funk in a long career, penned this in his youth, and when it finally came to light, Atlantic records had originally intended it for Otis Redding. In the end the great Aretha Franklin helped turn this into a No 1 hit in 1967, and earned her a Grammy. The twangy guitar sound and fabulous back comes from the hands of the Muscle Shoals greats including Jimmy Johnson on guitar, Tommy Cogbill on bass, and Roger Hawkins on drums, who can be seen in the wonderful Muscle Shoals documentary film of 2013.

SNACK OF THE WEEK

mackerel pate

MORE MUSIC …

Our latest roundup of new releases includes an emotional return for The Twilight Sad and Steve Gunn, catchy quirkiness from Toro Y Moi, solid alt-rock from Juliana Hatfield, cosmic pop from Steve Mason, and dire warnings from Lost Under Heaven

Getting ahead with the forthcoming releases over mid-January, melancholy, dystopian beauty is a predominant trend from Deerhunter, Sharon Van Etten, You Tell Me and more, with a dash of joy from Jeffrey Lewis covering The Fall

The second part of our roundup of outstanding albums of 2018, in alphabetical order by title, marked by a number of great debuts from young bands, as well as more established artists releasing their best work to date

The first part of our annual roundup of notable albums includes several great debuts by young bands, plus work that reflects dystopian political turmoil, gender issues and growing human relationship with technology

Song of the Day: After Miss Otis Regrets, another songs about a women who decided to stop taking abuse from a man, this time by the band from Brixton whose song eventually became synonymous with the Sopranos

Song of the Day: After yesterday’s She Drew The Gun songs, let’s go back to an original Cole Porter number from 1934, which contains that shot line of defiance and revenge, a tragic tale about a society woman who simply would not take it anymore

Song of the Day: A pair of finely crafted and powerful songs addressing pain and ongoing social problems from the Liverpool indie pop band fronted by singer and songwriter Louisa Roach from the 2018 album Revolution of Mind

Song of the Day: Exactly three years ago Bowie released his final album, on his birthday, and two days before he died. Was that opening track a coda for a stellar career, referencing a life’s work, his demons and impending death?

Song of the Day: After R.E.M.’s The Wrong Child, a more discursive number about teenage problems, ranging from drugs, gangs, sexual abuse, to depression and suicide by one of the finest New York rap outfits from the golden age of early 90s hip hop

Song of the Day: After yesterday’s Problem Child by Hed Ogledd, a rarely played, but beautiful, pathos-rich song from the perspective of an outsider, perhaps with a physical or mental disability, looking at other children playing

Song of the Day: A positive start to 2019, with a simple and gorgeous piano-based melody and love song from the pioneering British psych rock and pop band formed in St Albans in 1961 from their classic album of 1968, Odessey and Oracle

Word of the week: It’s best known as the mythical monster in Lewis Carroll’s poem from Through The Looking Glass (1871), but the word also means nonsense or gibberish, something that continues to be very much at large

Word of the week: It’s originally from an Arabic word, qisma, meaning portion or lot, and taken from Turkey in the 19th century, meaning fate, but where has in turned up in song lyrics since the 20th century?

Word of the week: It’s not all doom and gloom right now. With the winter solstice just gone by, days will slowly lengthen, allowing us to perceive more lux, that unit of illuminance and luminous flux. It’s a beautiful word, but where does it appear in lyrics?

Word of the week: It means utter nonsense talk, and there’s no shortage of that – at work, home, in law, and especially in politics right now, but where does the word come from and how is it used in song lyrics?